http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2002-2006 by the authors Tue, 6 Jan 2004 22:35:37 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/09/07/091150.php#comment-35547 Actually, per the novel, by 2020 the U.S. has rebuilt and has gained an edge, if a fragile one. The Mexico War is a begining of a rebound from the nadir: a recovering country can still seem weak. By 2020 America and its military can no longer be accurately described as "weak", though there is a question as to whether it has gained enough strength to take on its competitors, and even more, the political will to stick it out in the face of some particularly gruesome casualties. That last is a question we face today: we have unmatched materiel strength. The question is whether we're going to be able to stick it through in a war, amid the unprecidented handwringing over casualties, as if casualties are somehow unprecidented in war, or our casualties unprecidentedly high (rather than what they actually are, by historical comparison: unprecidentedly low). ]]> 35547@blogcritics.org Tue, 6 Jan 2004 22:35:37 EST